Results of a multicenter outpatient burn study on the safety and efficacy of Dimac-SSD, a new delivery system for silver sulfadiazine.

Dimac with silver sulfadiazine (Dimac-SSD), a new silver sulfadiazine delivery system, was evaluated prospectively in a multicenter study for the treatment of outpatient burn injuries. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of Dimac-SSD on the microbiology of the burn wounds and to quantitate its clinical safety and efficacy. A total of 197 patients were evaluated. Eight (4%) of these patients did not complete the study. Six patients withdrew because of local discomfort caused by the Dimac-SSD and two patients were terminated because of technical problems. The mean +/- SD duration of treatment with Dimac-SSD was 12 +/- 8.5 days, during which time the mean number of dressing changes was 2.9 per patient. During treatment with Dimac-SSD, the burn wound bacterial flora remained stable and overgrowth with Pseudomonas species or Gram-negative bacilli did not occur. Only four (2%) patients developed clinical infections; thus the Dimac-SSD appeared to have good antimicrobial effectiveness. This dressing was not associated with any organ system or metabolic side-effects and patient discomfort during application and removal was minimal. Thus this new delivery system for silver sulfadiazine was associated with excellent wound healing, a low incidence of wound infections, reduced frequency for dressing changes, and excellent patient compliance.